Coffee Crop Stage-Wise IPM

Pre-planting

Common cultural practices:

• Destroy the alternate host plants
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations.
• Land is cleared of heavy vegetation and large rocks prior to planting coffee. Selective retention of evergreen trees providing filtered shade at a spacing of 9 - 12 m is desirable.
• The land should be divided into blocks of convenient size by laying out footpaths and roads in between. Uprooting and in situ burning should clear the ground level bushy growth.

Nutrients

• Soil should be deep, friable, open textured rich in plant nutrients with plenty of humus and of slightly acidic nature (pH – 4.5 to 6.5)

Weeds

• Keep boundaries of coffee plantations weed free to prevent dispersal of weed seed..
• Field should be well prepared by tillage operations and after tillage; the underground reproductive propagules of weeds must be collected and destroyed.
• Digging out of tubers and rhizomes of weeds is discouraged to prevent re-infestation from fragmented underground propagules.

Nematodes and soil borne pests

Cultural control:

• Use virgin soil for preparation of nurseries.
• Nurseries should be located far away from infested plantations.
• Gap filling should be practiced every year.
• Use resistant/tolerant
• Arabica varieties
• Sln 795, Sln 7, Sln 9, Sln 10
• HRC (Hawaian Red Caturra) and Chandragiri
• Robusta varieties
• Sln 274, Sln 3,
• Peridenia
• C x R

Nursery

Nutrients

• Apply nutrients on the basis of soil test report and recommendation for the agro-climatic zone.
• Select light loamy soil of good drainage with high organic matter content with water and shade facilities.
• Form raised beds of 15 cm height, 1m width and at convenient length.
• Incorporate 30 - 40 kg of well rotten compost, 2 kg of finely sieved agricultural lime and 400 g of rock phosphate to a bed of 1 x 6 m size.
• In heavy soils, it is necessary to add coarse sand for drainage and aeration.
• Pre-sowing seed treatment with Azospirillum and Phosphobacterium should be done. Seeds are sown in in the bed 1.5 - 2.5 cm apart with the flat side down wards in regular rows and covered with a thin layer of fine soil and a layer of paddy straw. Water the beds daily and protect from direct sunlight by an over head pandal. Seeds germinate in about 45 days after which they are transplanted to a secondary nursery beds for raising bag nursery.
  Bag nursery- Polythene bags are filled with a prepared mixture containing jungle soil, FYM and sand in the proportion of 6:2:1. Seedlings are planted in polythene bags.

Weeds

• Keep the nursery weed free by hand pulling of the weeds

Damping off

Cultural control:

• Do not re-use old nursery soil
• Avoid excess humidity in the nursery
• Disinfect soil prior to seeding.
• If the disease appears, affected seedlings and those surrounding them should be destroyed

Brown eye spot

Cultural control:

• Improvement of tree nutrition and shading should be sufficient to control the disease

Coffee scales

Cultural control:

• Destroy ant nests from the shade trees
• Promoting conducive environmental conditions for growth of the white halo fungus (Verticillium lecanii)

Biological control

• Fungus: Verticillium lecanii
• Predators: Ladybugs.Parasitiods :Parasitic wasps.

Planting stage

Nutrients

• Selective shade lopping may be done After the summer showers, pits of 45 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm are dug at 2 x 2 feet. The pits are left open for weathering and then filled and heaped for planting. At the time of filling, apply 500 g of rock phosphate and 20 g mycorrhiza culture per pit along with top soil.
• Planting is done along the contour in sloppy areas.

Weeds

• Plant cover crop to avoid ground exposure.
• Use weed free compost and straw mulches.
• Plant green manure crop between rows.
• Closer spacing of plants, inter-planting with temporary shade trees (Gliricidia, Erythrina), use of quick growing planting materials will help uniform ground coverage and thereby reducing the weed growth.

Young coffee plantations

Irrigation

• Promote irrigation in low rain fall areas.
• Irrigation enhances the fruit set.
• Promote backup irrigation after 15 days of blossom in robusta variety.

Nutrients

Nutrient Management - Apply major nutrients according to the age and growth stage of the crop as indicated in the table below;

For heavy bearing plants, nutrient requirement is high so, additional dose of nutrient should be applied.

Weeds

• Slash weeding is recommended before flowering of weeds.

Coffee scales

Cultural control:

• Destroy ant nests from the shade trees
• Promoting conducive environmental conditions for growth of the white halo fungus (Verticillium lecanii)

Biological control

• Fungus: Verticillium lecanii Predators: Ladybugs.Parasitiods :Parasitic wasps

White coffee stem borer

Management:

• Maintain optimum shade on the estates. (two tier system of shade trees).
• Trace the infested plants prior to flight periods i.e., before end of March and September every year by looking for ridges on the main stem and thick primaries. Collar prune the infested plants, uproot if the borer has entered into the root, and burn the affected plants immediately.
• Remove the loose scaly bark of the main stem and thick primaries using a coir glove or coconut husk to eliminate the cracks and crevices which are used by the female beetle to place eggs on the stem. Scrubbing should be done just prior to the flight preferably during March to September as this operation is mainly aimed at preventing stem borer females from depositing eggs. but care must be taken not to damage the wood under the bark.
• Spray Chloropyrifos 20 EC at the dosage of 600ml in 200l of water along with 200ml of any wetting agent on the main stem and thick primaries during the early part of the flight period i.e., April and October every year.
• In hot spot areas i.e., open patches and estate borders with badly managed estates, adopt scrubbing or 10% lime coating or stem wrapping with empty fertilizer bags after removing affected plants by tracing.
• Pheromone trap can install in the field at a height of 1.8m to 2m from the ground. The traps should be spaced out in the form of a grid of 25 traps ha-1 with a spacing of 20m between them.

Coffee berry borer

Cultural and Mechanical control:

• Proper adoption of cultural practices and phytosanitary measures important for management of coffee berry borer.
• Transportation of infested coffee to uninfected areas is the main reason for spread.
• Gunny bags should be fumigated with aluminium phosphide (ALP) under pest control agency/ technical expert approved by PPA before delivery to estates to avoid cross infestation. Timely harvest.
• Spread gunny bags or polythene sheets at the time of harvest to minimize gleaning.
• Remove gleanings and left overs.
• Maintain optimum shade and good drainage.
• Dipping infested berries in boiling water for 2-3 minutes kills all the stages inside.
• Drying of coffee beans with prescribed moisture content level during storage. o Arabica (10% moisture content) o Roubsta (11% moisture content)
• Install broca traps@ 10/acre at the distance of 20meter to collect the beetles after the coffee harvest. Traps can be installed around the drying yard during drying

Biological control

• Application of spore suspension on the infested coffee bushes using a Knapsac sprayer during evening hours.

Shot hole borer

Mechanical control:

• Prune the effected twigs 2.5 to 7cm below the sht-hole and burn
• Remove and destroy all the unwanted / infested suckers during summer.
• Maintain thin shade and provide good drainage in the estate.

Chemical control:

• Spraying of systemic fungicide Propiconazole (Tilt 25 EC) during August-September at the dosage of 0.02% a.i., i.e.,160ml in 200 l of water.

Root lesion nematode

Mechanical control:

• Dig up the nursery site and expose the soil to the sun during summer.
• Avoid obtaining nursery plants from unknown source

Chemical control:

• Drench the seedlings in the nursery bag with carbosulfan 25 EC at the rate of 280 ml in 200 l of water.

Mechanical control:

• Maintain adequate shade

Coffee mealy bug

• Control ants by dusting quinalphos 1.5% or methyl parathion 2%
• Spray affected patches with 4 l of kerosene in 22 l of water along with 200 ml of any agricultural wetting agent.
• If the roots are infested with mealy bug and fungal association, drench the soil near the root zone with any one of the above insecticide along with 160g of Bayleton 25WP in 200 l of water.
• In case of young plants (2-4 years) drench with roger 30EC at 3.3ml per litre of water.

Biological control:

• Leptomastix dactylopii

Green Scale & Brown Scale

Mechanical control:

• Control ants in the case of mealy bugs
• Remove and burn weeds which harbor the scale.

Chemical control:

• Spray the affected patches with either quinalphos 25 EC at the dosage of 120 ml or dimethoate 30EC at 170ml in 200 l of water

Coffee red borer

• Follow common cultural practices and mechanical control

Hairy caterpillar, white grub

• Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.

Coffee bean beetle

Cultural control:

• Maintain optimum temperature, relative humidity and moisture content (less than111%)

Coffee leaf rust

Cultural control:

• Wider spacing and appropriate pruning

Chemical control:

• Spray copper oxychloride 50% WP 1.5-2.2 kg in 300-400 l of water/acre

Coffee berry disease

Cultural control:

• Provide recommended spacing specific to varieties
• Assure proper shade.
• Avoid retaining of infected berries.

Coffee wilt disease

Cultural control:

• Promote resistant varieties.
• Use disease free planting materials.
• Uproot and destroy the infected trees.
• Make a trench around the trees to depth of 30 cm and make sure the soil should be inside the circle.

Coffee stem canker

Cultural control:

• Promote resistant varieties.
• Use disease free planting materials.
• Uproot and destroy the infected trees.
• Make a trench around the trees to depth of 30 cm and make sure the soil should be inside the circle.

Brown eye spot disease

Cultural control:

• Brown eye disease is associated with a lack of in particular nitrogen and a lack of shade
• Improvement of tree nutrition and shading should be sufficient to control the disease

Black rot

Cultural control:

• Removal of diseased portions

Chemical control:

• Copper oxy chloride 50% WP 1.5-2.2 Kg in 300-400 l of water/acre

Berry blotch

Cultural control:

• Maintain medium shade overhead

Dieback/Ant hracnose

• Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices

Root rot

Cultural control:

• Burn the plants at site, isolate affected patches by digging deep trenches, ring the bark and poison the shade trees while thinning.
• Remove the affected plants and treat the soil at 1kg lime per plant to raise the soil pH.
• Treat the soil around the affected area with PDCB or brassicol at 0.4%. Maintain the vigour of plants.

Reproductive stage

Nutrients

As per table above.

• The rate of fertilizer application for mature coffee varies with yield and soil test values.
• Apply the recommended quantity of mixtures along the drip circle of plants. In the semi-circular furrow taken above the plant on the slope.
• Apply the fertilizers when there is adequate soil moisture and when the plantations are free from weeds.

Weeds

• Hand weeding around collar region of young bushes is always safe and it should be done.
• Care should be taken so that the weeds do not flower and seeds infest the new areas.